Holly Kim, a University of Idaho master’s student, is leading an online petition and planning a protest against UI’s fall reopening strategy.
The protest is planned to coincide with an Employee Town Hall meeting which will provide information about fall reopening preparations and the impact to employees should UI return to online-only during the semester.
“Some community members are too afraid to speak up against (UI President C. Scott Green’s) decision, afraid their voices will not be heard,” Kim stated in the petition. “We speak as a collective for those people and ourselves by saying that the University of Idaho needs to hold its classes online for the safety of everyone – the students, the instructors and the residents of Moscow and the Palouse region.”
UI plans to reopen in-person classes on Aug. 24, but Kim said the university’s plan to test all students for COVID-19 is a distraction, meant to make people feel safe, according to original reporting by the Lewiston Tribune.
As of Monday morning, over 1,000 people have signed the petition, with a goal of 1,500 signatures. The Tribune reproted 775 signatures and a goal of 1,000 signatures on Friday morning.
Kim shared additional concerns about Idaho’s status as a ‘red zone’ state, UI’s instruction plans, confirmed COVID-19 cases in Moscow and Gritman Medical Center’s intensive care unit capacity in the petition.
“We feel compelled to point out the obvious: many families of both students and staff/faculty have at-risk family members living within their homes, including locals whose adult children will be home rather in dorms, in part because of the pandemic,” Kim stated in the petition. “By holding in-person classes, UI immediately puts these families at direct risk, while also increasing risk to the UI community and the Palouse community as a whole. This is unconscionable.”
Protesters will be expected to practice social distancing and wear masks, according to the Tribune.
The protest is tentatively scheduled for 8:30 a.m. tomorrow in front of the UI Administration Building.
Lex Miller can be reached at [email protected]